Legislation

Military programs are governed by federal law, Department of Defense policy and additional policies specific to the branches of service. The below are the excerpts from federal law that govern casualty assistance programs in the military.

Title 10 USC Chapter 75, Subchapter II, "Death Benefits," January 3, 2012 This legislation provides laws concerning the military death gratuity. Included in subchapter II are sections describing the death gratuity for service members on active duty (§1475), death gratuity for service members who have been discharged (§1476), eligibility requirements for the death gratuity (§1477), amount of the death gratuity (§1478), delegation of determinations and payments for the death gratuity (§1479), miscellaneous provisions for the death gratuity (§1480), recovery, care, and disposition of remains (§1481), expenses incident to death (§1482), expenses incident to death for civilian employees (§1482a), prisoners of war and interned enemy aliens (§1483), pensioners, indigent patients, and persons who die on military reservations (§1484), dependents of service members (§1485), other citizens outside the United States (§1486), temporary interment (§1487), removal of remains (§1488), death gratuity for service members and civilians dying outside the United States while assigned to intelligence missions (§1489), transportation of remains (§1490), and funeral honors functions at funerals for veterans (§1491).

Title 38 USC Chapter 23, "Burial Benefits," January 3, 2012 This legislation provides the laws concerning burial benefits available to eligible service members and veterans to include ceremonial flags (§2301), funeral expenses (§2302), death in department facility/plot allowances (§2303), claims for reimbursement (§2304), persons eligible under prior law (§2305), headstones, markers, and burial receptacles (§2306), death from a service-connected disability (§2307), and transportation of deceased veterans to a national cemetery (§2308).

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